Beaches in Paradise

by Kathi Daley

  “She said she got everything back except her birth control pills, which I forgot I had in my bag. She has since refilled the prescription, so I guess I’ll just dispose of them.”

  “The dogs seem pretty wound up,” Kyle commented as we watched them wrestling around with each other.

  “Let’s take them for a walk,” I suggested. “We can talk and walk at the same time.”

  I wanted to fill Kyle in on my plan to begin looking into Bristow’s case once again and figured this would be as good a time as any. Kyle didn’t seem as certain about getting involved in things as I’d remained, but as I shared the specifics Gina and I had discussed over lunch, I could see him become more invested in the idea.

  “You know,” Kyle said after throwing a stick into the lake, which all the dogs took off after, “a big part of the problem when we started our list was that we couldn’t imagine who would both shoot Bristow and kidnap Gina. Now that we know the two things aren’t necessarily related, several other people come to mind.”

  “It just occurred to me that the men who were following Gina might know who shot Bristow. If they were waiting for Gina to come out of the restaurant, they must have been parked nearby.”

  “Good point. I wonder if they’d be willing to tell us what they know,” Kyle said.

  “I know they’re in FBI custody. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to call Roy and have him see what he can find out. In the meantime, we can come up with a list of people to talk to. It seems like we’ve had as much luck tracking down killers in the past as anyone.”

  “Along the same line of thought as Gina’s kidnappers perhaps having seen the shooting, it’s entirely possible anyone who was in the marina’s parking lot might have seen something as well,” Kyle said.

  “That’s true. But don’t you think a casual observer might have called the sheriff’s office?”

  “Not necessarily. A lot of people don’t want to get involved. A lot of the marina customers are tourists who would be gone by now, but there are resident slips, so if we ask around, we might find someone who was there on the evening Bristow was shot.”

  “Doug Conrad,” I said. “Gina told me that she and Bristow first walked Doug to his car, and then Bristow walked Gina to hers. Doug could have seen something when he was leaving, and even if he was gone by the time the shot was fired, he might have noticed someone suspicious lurking around as he pulled out.”

  “We should talk to Doug. I’ll call him when we get back to the house to see if he can speak to us this afternoon.”

  “We should have another go at talking to the marina employees too,” I added. “It really does seem like someone should have seen something.”

  Kyle tossed the stick into the water once again. Then he took me into his arms and looked me in the eye before kissing me gently on the lips. “See? We’re killing this investigation. We have a new suspect list and potential witnesses to interview. We do make a pretty good team, don’t we?”

  “The best.”

  “Do you have to be back at the resort at any certain time?”

  “I should be home for dinner. I don’t want Grandpa or Dad to have to get the girls off to bed. You’re invited to come home with me if you want. We could take another walk on the beach after we get the kids to bed.”

  Kyle leaned in for another kiss just as Pumpkin dropped the wet stick at his feet, then shook water all over both of us. We laughed as we gave in to the fact that the dogs were a lot more interested in playing fetch than in kissing.

  “I’ve been thinking of asking my mom and Annabeth if they wanted to do something fun with Ashley and Gracie this weekend,” Kyle said casually.

  Kyle’s mom lived in Serenity with Annabeth Boswell in a condo he’d bought for her. Kyle and I first met Annabeth when her sister was missing and we’d decided to investigate. It turned out Annabeth’s father was one of the bad guys in that particular mystery, and her sister Kiara had become her legal guardian. Kyle had wanted Kiara to be able to attend college, so he’d arranged for Annabeth to live with his mother. She was sixteen now, and Ashley and Gracie both loved hanging out with her.

  “Are we thinking of an overnight outing?” I asked.

  Kyle glanced at me. “Would you be interested in an overnight outing of some sort?”

  I smiled. “Very much. Ashley and Gracie have asked about going to the fair in Sacramento. I don’t suppose your mom and Annabeth would be interested in something like that?”

  Kyle pulled me into his arms again. “I think they might be very interested in something exactly like that, but I’ll ask them.”

  When we returned to the house, Kyle called his mother, who said she’d be thrilled to spend time with the girls. It occurred to me it would be a good idea for Kyle’s mom to spend time with Ashley and Gracie. If Kyle and I were eventually to marry, she’d become their grandmother. Marriage wasn’t something Kyle and I had discussed, but even though we’d been taking our relationship frustratingly slow, it had crossed my mind and I was willing to bet he had thought about it as well.

  “Mom will pick them up at the resort at eight o’clock on Saturday morning. I reserved a suite near the fairgrounds for Saturday night. Mom said they’d be home around dinnertime on Sunday.”

  “Sounds to me like we might finally have the night together we’ve been trying to arrange,” I said softly.

  “Come hell or high water,” Kyle responded before kissing me gently on the mouth.

  “Hell or high water,” I said and kissed him back.

  Kyle groaned and took a step back. “Which brings me to the next order of business.”

  “Which is?”

  “If you want to look in to Bristow’s murder I’m fine with helping out, but whatever happens, Saturday and Sunday are reserved for us. We can work on the case today and tomorrow, but if we haven’t figured it out by eight o’clock Saturday morning, we put a pin in it until Monday.”

  “I totally agree.”

  “Okay, then. Let’s get started. I’ll call Conrad. We should have time to meet with him and go out to the marina to talk to some of the employees before we need to head out to the resort.”

  Doug Conrad was on the town council with Kyle, so they knew each other fairly well. He seemed more than happy to talk with us, so we got the dogs settled and drove over to his insurance office.

  “Thank you for meeting with us on such short notice,” Kyle said, shaking Doug’s hand.

  “No problem. Let’s use the large table in the conference room. Coffee?”

  Kyle and I both declined.

  “We wanted to speak to you,” Kyle began, “because we understand Striker Bristow was meeting with you at the marina restaurant just prior to him being shot and killed.”

  “That’s correct. He wanted to discuss his mall project, and he brought along his assistant, Gina Roberts.”

  “I understand Bristow walked you to your car before walking Ms. Roberts to hers,” Kyle continued.

  “Right. I have to say, even with the concessions Bristow seemed to be willing to make, I was still on the fence about working with him. His reputation was dicey, to say the least, and while I thought Ms. Roberts did a wonderful job helping him create a marketable plan, I still wasn’t sure I wanted to enter into a deal with a man like him. I think Bristow could sense my hesitation because he not only followed me out when I told him I had another appointment to get to, but he followed me to my car, still trying to sell me the entire way. I was happy to finally make my escape.”

  “When I spoke to Ms. Roberts, she seemed to think the meeting went well,” I said.

  Doug shrugged. “Bristow is a pushy man who won’t take no for an answer. I only agreed to meet with him because he’d been pursuing me relentlessly for weeks. I figured the only way to get him off my back was to give him what he wanted. I suppose I may have appeared to be more interested in the concept th
an I actually was. Ms. Roberts had prepared a nice presentation and I didn’t want to be rude to her. And I knew several council members did want to see the project move forward, so I felt I owed it to them to listen to what Bristow had to offer with at least somewhat of an open mind. Truth be told, however, I couldn’t see myself ever signing on to a project with a jerk like him. I have a feeling if he hadn’t died, the project would have come to a vote and it would have been shot down despite the chatter around town.”

  I felt bad for Gina. She’d put in a lot of work and it sounded as if the project had been dead in the water anyway. Of course, she’d already been paid at least part of what was owed to her and she was looking at a whole new start outside of Paradise Lake, so I was pretty sure she wouldn’t care one way or the other how things turned out now.

  “Bristow was shot just as they arrived at Ms. Roberts’s car,” Kyle said. “Did you see anything at all that seemed suspicious as you drove out through the parking lot?”

  “I was parked close to the restaurant while both Bristow and Ms. Roberts’s cars were in the overflow area near the marina. I didn’t notice anything as I walked to my car, though I did see there were two men in a blue sedan parked on the street leading away from the lot. I only noticed them because they were parked facing the wrong direction, as if they wanted to make sure to see everyone who left the parking lot.”

  “It sounds like you saw the men who pursued and kidnapped Gina,” I said. “According to her, they weren’t interested in Bristow and they didn’t shoot him. Did you see anything else? Maybe someone hiding in the bushes or hunched down behind a car?”

  Doug shook his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see anything like that.”

  “About what time did you leave the restaurant?” Kyle asked.

  “I guess it was around seven fifteen.”

  “Was the parking area still crowded?” Kyle continued.

  “The lot nearest the restaurant was packed with the dinner crowd, but the area where Bristow and Ms. Roberts were parked had cleared out quite a lot. Most of the day boaters had come in and left for the day.”

  “So whoever shot Bristow most likely had a clear shot?” Kyle asked.

  Doug nodded. “I would say so. There were maybe ten cars in all still in the marina lot and most were scattered around. Depending on where the gunman hid and the timing of Bristow entering the lot with Ms. Roberts, I could see how a gunman could have shot Bristow and then left without being seen.”

  “But there were people around who might have seen something?” I asked.

  “Sure. There are usually two guys at the boat launch until eight and the marina office is usually open until eight as well. And there were still a few day boaters who hadn’t come in yet, or at least they hadn’t returned to their cars. The marina closes at eight, but a lot of folks come in from a day on the water and head for the restaurant bar. So I suppose some of the ten or so cars I saw could have belonged to people next door.”

  The conversation stalled. I glanced at Kyle, who shrugged. I turned back to Doug, not yet ready to give up. “I just have one last question. Do you remember seeing anyone in the restaurant you knew? Maybe someone who came in after you or left just before you did and might have seen something in the parking area?”

  “Glen Yorkshire was at the bar when I left. And I remember seeing Stuart Green leave the restaurant just minutes before we did.”

  “Okay,” Kyle said, standing up. “We’ll let you get back to work. Thank you again for taking time to meet with us.”

  “No problem. See you at the next town council meeting?”

  “I’ll be there,” Kyle confirmed.

  “I understand choosing a new mayor is going to be on the agenda. I don’t suppose you’d be interested?”

  “Not at this point,” Kyle answered. “It’ll be interesting to see who the council comes up with.”

  After we left Doug’s office we headed to the marina and the restaurant to speak to some employees. I was sure Kate and Roy had already done it, but there’d been times in the past when a witness who was unwilling to speak to one of the deputies had been willing to speak to Kyle or me.

  “What do you think about the fact that Glen Yorkshire was in the bar the day Bristow was shot?” I asked as we drove.

  “I think he just became a much stronger suspect. If he did think his wife was cheating on him with Bristow, he might have been following him around, looking for proof. Maybe he followed him to the restaurant, then left and set up to shoot him while Gina and Bristow were walking Doug to his car.”

  “That’s exactly what I was thinking. Maybe we should try to track him down after we finish at the marina.”

  “Do you know him?” Kyle asked me.

  I frowned. “No, do you?”

  “Not at all. I’m not sure if he’ll spill much to two strangers asking about the affair his wife was supposedly having and the man he supposedly shot.”

  “You’re probably right. Maybe we should call Roy. He can interview him officially, and that might result in a confession if he did it and now regrets it. I’ll call him,” I offered.

  The parking lot was packed when we arrived at the marina. Kyle found a spot way in the back that appeared to be the last one available. There were people everywhere at this time of the day, so the employees would probably be too busy to speak to us. A quick question that came right to the point would be our best chance of getting a reply.

  Both the marina and the restaurant were as crowded as we’d thought they would be. We made a few attempts to get employees to talk to us about the shooting a week before, but except for one waitress, everyone told us they hadn’t seen a thing.

  “I took my break and went out for a smoke around that time,” said the waitress. “The management doesn’t want us to smoke nearby, so I went to the back of the parking area, like I always do. There was an old white pickup parked at the very back of the lot. That wasn’t that unusual. Boaters who arrive later in the afternoon most likely have to park there, and they’re also most likely to be the last to leave. What was odd was that there was a man sitting in the truck. He might have been waiting for someone, and I only had a fifteen-minute break, so I don’t know when he got there or how long he stayed.”

  I knew Byron Wildman had an old Ford truck that I seemed to remember was white. Wildman and Yorkshire would stay firmly at the top of our list.

  Chapter 17

  When we left the marina, I called Roy and filled him in on both the fact that Glen Yorkshire had been seen at the restaurant on the evening Bristow was shot and that he’d told Gina he believed his wife was having an affair with the unpopular developer. I also mentioned that the waitress had seen an old white truck at the scene, and that Kyle and I had seen Wildman working on a truck of the same description. Roy assured me he’d speak to both men.

  Kyle knew Stuart Green and he called him, but he didn’t pick up. Kyle left a message and we went to his house. It was beginning to get late, so we picked up the dogs and headed back to the resort.

  On the way, we discussed our plans for the weekend, which couldn’t get here soon enough. At the resort, I filled Ashley in on the plans we’d made for her for the weekend. There was no doubt in my mind Gracie would be thrilled, but Ashley could be tricky. As it turned out, Kristi had plans with her dad anyway, so Ashley was glad to have something fun to do. It looked like Kyle and I might actually have the night together we’d been trying to arrange for over a month. After a difficult summer, I felt like things were finally coming together.

  “I have some interesting news,” my dad said when the family had finished dinner and Ashley and Gracie had gone into the den to watch a movie. The three of us sat on the deck overlooking the lake as the sky darkened.

  “Oh, and what’s that?” I asked as I sipped a glass of wine.

  “Noah and I were having lunch today when Deputy Baldwin stopped by.�
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  I frowned. “What did she want?”

  “She was here to see Noah,” Dad informed us. “Apparently, he’d been seen leaving Bristow’s office on the afternoon of the day he was shot.”

  “What? Why would Noah be meeting with Bristow?” I asked, almost spilling my wine in the process.

  “Apparently,” Dad answered, “Bristow offered Noah a job and he stopped by to speak to him about it.”

  I narrowed my gaze. “A job? What kind of a job? Noah is a resort manager and Bristow was trying to build a mall.”

  Dad shifted in his chair. I could see his injury had been bothering him this week. I felt so bad for him, but at least he was walking with only a cane for support. “Bristow wanted to build a mall in Serenity, but he has developments all over the world. From what Noah told me, he owned a large resort in Cancún that he wanted Noah to run.”

  “He isn’t going to?” I asked in a panic. Noah had only been with Maggie’s Hideaway for a few months, but he’d really seemed to take ownership of things during Dad’s recuperation, and I wasn’t sure how we’d manage without him.

  Dad shook his head. “Noah told him he had no plans to leave Maggie’s Hideaway. The only reason he agreed to meet with Bristow was because when he first approached him, he made Noah promise to at least think it over rather than making a decision right away. Noah shared that the offer was a good one, but he didn’t like to hop between resorts every few months. He prefers to stay in one place for at least a couple of years, and he really loves the employees here and the mountain location.”

  “So why did Kate want to talk to him?” I wondered.

  “I guess because Noah met with Bristow just hours before he died. Noah said he saw him at three o’clock, and Bristow was dead by eight.”

  “Did Noah know anything?” I asked my dad.

  “He said he didn’t. He did say a woman Bristow introduced as his wife arrived just before he was leaving.”